1. You cannot resample a sequence onto a pad, thus freeing up all of the (badly-designed and poorly-delegated) sequencing features. Your only option is to record the sequence into your DAW and then sample it.

2. You cannot record a short (say, two bars) sequence and then copy it to itself, making it longer. In fact, you can't merge two sequences together.

3. Want to map a sample out across a MIDI keyboard? Forget it. You can "pitch" a sample across one octave, and it RESAMPLES IT 13 TIMES. Plus, it takes forever. Plus, it sounds so bad that it's useless.

4. The effects sound very good, but there is only one engine. You can't sequence effect changes. Actually, come to think of it, I have only used headphones so far. Maybe the effects don't sound good at all. Maybe they sound like crap?

5. It has preset samples and sequences that cannot be deleted, a la RM1x, DX200, AN200 and others.

6. It's built like a tank.. that is made of cheap plastic.

7. It's not metal, red, with tubes and made by KORG, So there's no reason to own it.

This one's in beautiful shape, like it was never used. If any of this sounds like fun to you: $190 shipped.

Hi sauce!maybe you got the wrong approach with this machine...I mean all the sp have hard limitations and the 505 in my mind is the one that's more complete, but it has some limitation to work around.Consider that an mpc2000 cannot resample anything , does not have the good effects present on the boss, and the major strenght is the typical mpc sequencer+pads.I find the 505 a good sounding sampler, that can do the difference when you sample beats or loops, because it sounds dirty good.if I want 1.000 features, graphical sequencing I just use ableton , while when I want to sample with carachter I use the sp and then record the boss into ableton...I mean anyone has his needs and these machines need that people use a particular approach and philosophy to get the better out.the sp505 needs its approach as every machine on earth...

1. You cannot resample a sequence onto a pad, thus freeing up all of the (badly-designed and poorly-delegated) sequencing features. Your only option is to record the sequence into your DAW and then sample it.

Or you could build a sequence entirely out of Re-Sampling, and resample that. People do this on the 505, 404, 303 etc. The sequence-to-pad thing? Donno...maybe the 404sx or 555 has that, but it's not a standard feature on most SPs.

2. You cannot record a short (say, two bars) sequence and then copy it to itself, making it longer. In fact, you can't merge two sequences together.

Why wouldn't you just record a 4 bar sequence? Or record a 2-bar, then copy that to the next sequence and stitch them together in real-time or via song mode?

3. Want to map a sample out across a MIDI keyboard? Forget it. You can "pitch" a sample across one octave, and it RESAMPLES IT 13 TIMES. Plus, it takes forever. Plus, it sounds so bad that it's useless.

Mapping across the midi keyboard is something that no SP can do.

4. The effects sound very good, but there is only one engine. You can't sequence effect changes. Actually, come to think of it, I have only used headphones so far. Maybe the effects don't sound good at all. Maybe they sound like crap?

Pretty sure every description of the 505 online and in the manual says it only has one effect engine. Same as the 303, 404, 555, 404sx. In fact, I think only the 606 has dual effect engines.

5. It has preset samples and sequences that cannot be deleted, a la RM1x, DX200, AN200 and others.

Just hit "User" to get to the sequences you've made.

6. It's built like a tank.. that is made of cheap plastic.

That's how you get it thru metal detectors...it's like a Glock.

7. It's not metal, red, with tubes and made by KORG, So there's no reason to own it.

That's awesome. Is it true the tubes are just a prop on the ESX-1?

Dude - I'm not trying to defend the honour of the 505 -- lol -- I just think most of the stuff you're not diggin' is stuff that would have been pretty clear by reading some reviews and stuff online.

The 505 is super-limited, no doubt. But maybe nothing in the SP series is what you're after?

I have my old Ensoniq EPS16+ that has lots of interesting features and I think the value is the same as the SP505, but they are different beasts and they complete each other. however you can find different samplers for different tasks, catch the one that fits you...

The eps16+ is the first ensoniq that samples at 16 bit.It's 8 part multitimbral, it can sample and spam across the keyboard or part of it,(useful for creating drumkits for example).It can resample realtime sounds or sequences and has beautiful effects.another strenght is the modulation capability of morphing samples like "wavetables" and modulating loops/start/stop points...mine has the waveboy industry os and can do even a simple FM between samples layered, and other interesting features that even modern hw samplers lack. truly a beautiful machine that sounds so good

sauce it's OK for you to not like the 505, but this post is neither funny nor useful..

Not true. Since you and I have a repertoire on other forum , I will go ahead and reply..

Funny? Perhaps not, but I think I listed good, informative points about this instrument, things that I think a prospective buyer would like to know before they purchase. Also, I was just venting.. I really bought the piece for very little and sold it just as quickly.

When it comes down to it, I just couldn't see myself keeping it for live use; the workflow and performance options are just too limiting.

cartesia wrote:

I am kinda surprised that you didn't like it though, given your love of crappy toy keyboards...?

I collect the toys as gimicky, texture-adding, circuit-bent cheese pieces, not as main workhorses. I think in about 15 years the sp-505 might fit into this category.

xtal wrote:

the korg ESX IMHO is quite a bad looking sampler...I prefer the ES1!The tubes are not that useful and the main power is the sequencer.

I could care less what a piece of gear looks like, as long as it is capable. Although I have owned about a dozen ES-1's over the years, I still have to say.. It is no where near as powerful as an ESX. I have played about 250 live shows with one and I know it inside and out. With the 505 I just wanted a change of pace, but it didn't work out for me. I probably will get the Elektron sampler as soon as that is possible and see what it is like.

Is it? I have suspected as much.. Also, how do the 606 and 555 compare? None of them actually let you map out a sample across a keyboard?

fauna wrote:

Why wouldn't you just record a 4 bar sequence? Or record a 2-bar, then copy that to the next sequence and stitch them together in real-time or via song mode?

I understand what you are saying, but sometimes I like to chop just one bar out of a four or eight-bar loop and repeat it.. It works well with hard techno or minimal. I usually copy the one-bar snippet to itself until it is eight bars long and then I can automate slowly-evolving effects tangents on top of it. Basically, I am used to being able to do things that I can't do on this machine, and that is why it didn't work for me. A pity, too, because I really liked the way it sounded.

fauna wrote:

Just hit "User" to get to the sequences you've made

I realize there are user pattern slots, but the fact that you can't delete the crappy stock patterns is ridiculous.

fauna wrote:

Is it true the tubes are just a prop on the ESX-1?

No, they work, they just don't sound good. They are touchy and not warm and they overdrive too easily (no headroom). If you switch the originals (Electro Harmonix) for some really nice one's, it becomes a very usable feature.

Just for anyone who is interested, here are some things I posted a while ago in another forum about the Korg ESX (I know that this is "SP-Forums" and not a Korg forum! I am just extrapolating on the comparisons I made between the ESX and the Sp-505 ).

"The ESX is a very capable looper.. In fact, to only use it as a one-shot sampler would be unthinkable. You have 9 drum parts where samples are played drum-machine-style. Then you have two keyboard parts, where samples are mapped out across a MIDI keyboard and can be played piano-style. Also, there are two stretch parts, where samples can be time-stretched up to 8 bars (!). This time stretching sounds GOOD.. In fact, unless it is done to extremes, you cannot even tell that the phrases are stretched. Lastly, there is a sliced sample part where you can loop a chopped sample. Also, you can assign a separate LFO to any part and modulate pitch, pan, amplitude, filter cutoff. In the stretch parts you can even modulate pitch with a S/H wave and everything stays locked in tight! Three assignable and chainable effects engines, four assignable outputs, nice filters, processing of external audio (filters, LFO and effects!), instant reverse, dedicated start-point and end-point knobs for samples, etc. etc. etc."

"The synth engine is quite capable and turns the unit into a Wavetable monosynth. You can loop individual bits from samples, creating oscillators. These loops can then be tuned and mapped across a keyboard, making them playable. The EG can be edited, and the tone can be filtered, adding depth and character. Also, if you add the same sample to both keyboard parts and detune one of them slightly, set both to the same MIDI channel, you can play both of them "stacked" with a MIDI keyboard and resample. I have created some seriously ill synth voices and basses with the ESX. "

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